RAILROAD TYCOON 3
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FAQ written by Scott "Zoogz" Jamison
zoogz22 (at) yahoo (dot) com
http://www.nabiki.com/mst
This FAQ is property of and copyrighted by Scott Jamison, 2007.  This
FAQ is licensed to GameFAQs due to their excellent work in archiving
FAQs for many games that I have played.  Please do not post this FAQ
in any other location without my written permission.  Additionally,
please do not alter this FAQ.  I reserve the right to request this FAQ
to be removed from any website.
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Table of Contents
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1.0 - Version History
2.0 - Introduction to Railroad Tycoon III FAQ
2.1 - Game Overview
3.0 - Economics and Railroad Tycoon III
3.1 - General Overview to Economics.
3.2 - Competition.
3.3 - Purchasing and Maintaining Industries.
3.4 - Town Consumption and the Transportation Model.
3.5 - Supply and Demand - The Flow of Resources.
3.6 - Instant Manufacturing.
3.7 - Tycoonatrons and the Discussion of Competitive Advantage.
3.8 - Opportunity Costs and Time Value of Money
3.9 - Macroeconomics and Conditions.
4.0 - Railroad Tycoon 3 Controls
4.1 - The Globe Button / Station Cargo Lists
4.2 - The Track Button
4.3 - The Building Button
5.0 - Walkthrough
5.1 - Campaign Mode
5.1.1 - Go West
5.1.2 - Germantown U.S.A.
5.1.3 - Central Pacific
5.1.4 - Texas Tea
5.1.5 - The War Effort
5.1.6 - State of Germany
5.1.7 - Flying Scotsman
5.1.8 - Crossing the Alps
5.1.9 - Third Republic
5.1.10 - The Orient Express
5.1.11 - Argentina
5.1.12 - Africa
5.1.13 - Japan Quakes!
5.1.14 - The Seeder
5.1.15 - Dutchlantis
5.1.16 - Chip Off the Old Block
5.2 - Scenarios (TBD)
6.0 - Railroad Tycoon Game Patches / Updates
7.0 - Frequently Asked Questions
8.0 - Epilogue and Author's Notes
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1.0  Version History
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Version 0.4 - Begun the initial form of the FAQ.  Sections added in-
clude the following:
Framework, Author's Disclaimer, Table of Contents, Version History,
Introduction, Economic Overview, Controls, and Walkthroughs (3/18
published)
Version date: 28 June 2007
Version 0.45 - Proofread, linebreaked, and tweaked a couple sections.
More walkthroughs to come in future releases.
Version date: 3 July 2007
Version 0.5 - Added 5.1.1, "Go West" to walkthroughs on request.  Try
#8 at "Orient Express" not going too well either, so I will just com-
plete all the other walkthroughs.
Version date: 20 July 2007
Version 0.7 - Added new information to 4.2, "Track Button" in RRT3 Con-
trols.  Added 5.1.2, "Germantown USA", 5.1.3 "Central Pacific", and
5.1.6 "German States" to walkthroughs.  5.1.6 was added upon request.
More walkthroughs to come.  Added questions to FAQ.
Version date: 1 August 2007
Version 0.75 - Added new information to 3.4, "Town Consumption and the
Transportation Model" in the Economics overview section.  Updated sec-
tions 5.1 and 5.1.6 with additional information.  Added 5.1.4, "Texas
Tea" and 5.1.10 "Orient Express" to walkthroughs.  Next plans include
filling in the remaining walkthroughs for the campaigns I have prev-
iously completed (7,8,9) and then being able to go on to the campaigns
that I have not started, namely 5 and 14-16.
Version date: 10 August 2007
Version 0.97 - Added walkthroughs for scenario 7, "Flying Scotsman",
scenario 8, "Crossing the Alps", scenario 9, "Third Republic", scenario
15, "Dutchlantis", and scenario 16, "Chip Off the Old Block".  Revised
section 3.9, "Macroeconomics and Conditions", due to evidence presented
while playing RRT3 and further research about economic policies and
conditions of older times.
Also added a walkthrough for scenario 5, "War Effort".  Many thanks to
Ez8 for providing this walkthrough.
The only remaining campaign game without a walkthrough is 14, another
scheduling campaign game.  Therefore, considering the fact that I've
played Railroad Tycoon 3 consistently for the last nine months, I will
be taking a break for a while.
Therefore, I will be taking a hiatus from this guide for a while as
well.  I will still accept any submissions that readers of this FAQ
would like to provide, especially for scenario #14.  I will update the
FAQ if the submissions warrant it, but since most of the facts below
are correct as far as I know there will be few further revisions or
additions for the time being.
(Last note: if you're waiting on ME to provide the walkthrough for #14,
I will do it eventually if no one else steps up.  But just be warned
that you may be waiting some months for it.)
Good luck!
Version date: 31 August 2007
Version 1.0 - Added reader contribution walkthrough(s) for Scenario 14,
"The Seeder".  I imagine that everyone was waiting on this one, and there
were multiple readers who contributed.  My thanks and apologies to those
readers.  Possible future additions to this walkthrough may consist of the
single scenarios bundled with the game.
Version date: 03 June 2008
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2.0 - Introduction to Railroad Tycoon 3:
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Welcome!  This is my first FAQ, so any comments about this work,
please send them to the email address at the top of the page.  I first
started playing Railroad Tycoon 2 after having found it at a local
store for $9, and enjoyed it immensely.  I loved being able to build
track and watch my little trains go all over the place.  I was able to
do pretty respectable at most of the scenarios and campaign as well.
(Thanks, Dennis Doucette, for the RRT2 FAQ; lemme tell you about India
someday!)
I did not purchase Railroad Tycoon 3 immediately upon its release; I
actually waited for a few months.  I didn't hear any negative reviews
though, and obtained my copy.  But when I started playing it, I will
admit that some of the differences in gameplay from Railroad Tycoon 2
to Railroad Tycoon 3 turned me off of the game at first.  So then,
Railroad Tycoon 3 sat in my "to play" pile for a long time afterward.
As I was cleaning out my "to play" pile in December 2006, I realized
how engaging this game could be.  While economics will never really be
a water-cooler subject, this game is based upon many economic princi-
ples, and it took me a few times playing it to realize how interesting
and exciting it could be.  Good and bad decisions in Railroad Tycoon 2
can affect you, to be sure, but good and bad decisions in Railroad Ty-
coon 3 affect you far more.  It's because the gameplay model is far
more robust, and goes farther to be a truer model of economic behaviour
than Railroad Tycoon 2.
So, by all means, don't be scared of Railroad Tycoon 3.  I realized
that a decent explanation of the economic system and gameplay princi-
ples would be gratefully appreciated  by many people... possibly back
in 2005.  It's now halfway through 2007, and I would be highly sur-
prised if anyone even cares about this game anymore.  But I felt I had
to at least try to publicize it and help others to enjoy it, even if
too late really is too little.
Thank you for reading, and enjoy!
2.1 - Game Overview
The path to winning in Railroad Tycoon 3 is basically the same in
every scenario and campaign game - to build a network of tracks and
trains to service the transportation needs of your current region.
You are usually offered an amount of money at the start of the game,
and with this money you can start building tracks and trains, and con-
necting cities.  More money can either be earned through your service,
obtained through stock issues in the stock market (capitalization), or
borrowed from the bank in the form of loans (liabilities).
Some scenarios and campaign games may have different focuses - for
instance, connecting two cities by rail, or raising your personal net
wealth, or even outlasting all other companies to be the last one stand-
ing.  While there are ways that some goals can be accomplished without
even placing one inch of steel track, generally the easiest path to
victory is to build a rail network which is profitable.
In this game, your company can make a profit two different ways.  You
can carry cargoes and earn a profit by taking them from one location
where they are supplied to another where they are demanded.  Usually,
carrying raw materials to a production facility is a good example of
this method.  Alternately, you can also purchase raw material facil-
ities and production facilities and make money on the direct usage of
goods.  Some players get extremely good mileage from just transporting
cargoes, and it may be best to use this strategy as well if you are a
beginner.  Just remember that profits can be made in many different
avenues!
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3.0  Economics and Railroad Tycoon 3:
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Economics is a very strange art at times, and can require much ex-
planation.  Railroad Tycoon 3 is very steeped in economics, even more
so than both Railroad Tycoon 1 and 2.  Therefore, the below is a bit of
an essay which encompasses differences between gameplay of Railroad Ty-
coon 2 and 3, explains general economic models, and attempts to apply
them to Railroad Tycoon 3.  For those who have not played Railroad Ty-
coon 2, my apologies; just try to ignore parts where I bring up differ-
ences, as it may become confusing.
There are a few areas that need to be introduced and explained in
this discussion.  They are as follows:
3.1 - General Overview to Economics.
3.2 - Competition.
3.3 - Purchasing and Maintaining Industries.
3.4 - Town Consumption and the Transportation Model.
3.5 - Supply and Demand - The Flow of Resources.
3.6 - Instant Manufacturing.
3.7 - Tycoonatrons and the Discussion of Competitive Advantage.
3.8 - Opportunity Costs and Time Value of Money
3.9 - Macroeconomics and Conditions.
Economics is intertwined, so if you don't find your answer in one
general topic, please go on through the rest of the essay, as your an-
swer may be related to a different topic.  Any questions you may have
will also be gratefully accepted and answered if possible, and posted
on the FAQ even if an answer does not exist so that feedback can be re-
quested and generated.
Additionally, "Tycoonatrons" is the general term I use for the in-
visible "people" of Railroad Tycoon 3.  For those who remember the
SimCity games, just think of them as Sims.  For those who played "The
Sims", you can't buy them a new refrigerator.  Sorry.
3.1 - General Overview to Economics.
Before delving into the above topics, a deeper explanation of the
game may be necessary.  Some people do read the documentation that
comes with a game, and some don't.  For those who have already read the
game's documentation or are familiar with Railroad Tycoon, please skip
to the next topic below.
The economy in Railroad Tycoon encompasses many different items.
Some are supply items, such as logs or cattle.  In order for these
items to be useful to most people, they need to be processed at a pro-
cessing plant, such as a lumber mill or a meat packing plant.  In Rail-
road Tycoon, you can build a transportation network made up of trains
which can bring raw materials to processing plants and hopefully earn
your company a profit.  The processing plants will use these raw mater-
ials to produce finished goods, like lumber (cut boards used for build-
ing) from logs or meat from cattle.  "Houses" in Railroad Tycoon sym-
bolize the public at large, who consumes these types of items.  And the
more houses a town has, the more that this town needs stuff - New York
City needs far more paper than Schenectady, for instance.  And just re-
member, one finished good may be a raw material for another process -
rubber can be processed to tires, but tires are used as a raw material
for automobiles.
Clicking on every building and clicking the little square button
will show you what every building produces and demands.  Hooking up
buildings which produce a certain good with buildings that demand a
certain good will be supplying a demand, and this is how you get money
in the game.
Additionally, there are also passengers and mail in Railroad Tycoon
3.  Sometimes these can be the most lucrative deliveries.  Both types
of "cargo" go from house to house, in essence.  Most of our discussion
can also be applied to passenger and mail traffic, but just remember
that there's no processing of passengers - the game designers didn't
make a Soylent Green factory.
The key to earning money by hauling cargo is to haul it from a place
which supplies cargo to a place which demands cargo.  That's all there
is to it.
It's a bit more difficult than that?  Okay, then check out a few
topics below.
3.2 - Competition
Everywhere, competition exists.  There's more than one bank, more
than one grocery store, more than one hotel.  It's a fact of life, and
in Railroad Tycoon 3 it's no different.
Of course, you could be competing against other railroads in this
game, as in Railroad Tycoon 2.  But now, you're also competing against
boats, trucks, and other methods of conveyance too.  The game's eco-
nomic model will place prices on everything, and if there is a profit
to be made by shipping a material over a small amount of land or a long
amount of water, then the invisible Tycoonatrons will ship it them-
selves.
There is a benefit to this as well.  Some industries may already be
producing their finished goods because the Tycoonatrons are already
supplying the industries.  And usually finished goods provide a higher
amount of profit as well.  Be sure to click on all industry buildings
to see a list of their profitability; they will usually have a record
of "units consumed" at the top which will show you how well-supplied
the industry is, and if it is near capacity then you can practically
count on this industry providing finished goods if connected to your
rail empire.
This also provides you with additional assistance in the form of
building stations.  While you do still have the option of putting
small stations in some areas to capture a certain raw material build-
ing, your cities can benefit from the surrounding countryside as the
local farms and raw material producers will ship their goods to your
station if it is close.  Just be sure to understand that if you buy
these industries, they may not be as profitable due to the transpor-
tation costs they have to pay in order to enter into your system.  Your
stations also serve as an "instant transport"; if a cattle farm pro-
duces cattle, it may take a month or two to get to a nearby station by
Tycoonatron, but if you build a station which captures the cattle farm
(puts the cattle farm in its green highlight area), the production will
instantly be inside your station.  It'll just cost money to buy the
station.
Last note, the Tycoonatrons will follow the paths of least resist-
ance.  They will ship by rivers rather easily and also coastal parts of
oceans.  I watched some goods go from one side of the map all the way
to the other because of coastal squares.  Mountains are far more daunt-
ing though.  You can compare this to your track-laying and ease in
transport; laying a track parallel to a river is usually pretty easy,
cheap, and results in very little grade, and therefore the trains will
move quickly.  Laying track over a mountain (or THROUGH a mountain) is
highly expensive, and takes a long time, so you will be rewarded for
your premium if you made a wise decision.
To sum up, goods WILL move by themselves in some limited ways without
your trains to take them.  Check the globe icon and click on the spe-
cific commodity for additional information, and to find out if a cer-
tain facility is utilizing some other form of transport to get their
goods to market.
3.3 - Purchasing and Maintaining Industries
Another difference between RRT2 and RRT3 is the industry model.  Al-
ready discussed are the facts that some industries may already be sup-
plied without your efforts.  Now, purchasing them as well as industry
consumption are different as well.
Firstly, purchasing industries.  In RRT2, you had to depend on other
people buying the property and erecting the facility before you could
swoop down and purchase it from them.  Now though, you can place your
own *production* buildings through the (station-)building menu.  Just
search the list on the dots/lines button.  Not only do you get some of
the passenger revenue-enhancing buildings from RRT2, you also get a
list of production buildings you may purchase.  To be sure though, you
will be paying a premium on any building that you place yourself, a-
bout 150% of the purchase price of an identical new facility (and pos-
sibly beyond two times the price of a non-profitable facility).  This
can be classified as the permits and property cost, I suppose.
And on any map, there will be old and new industries.  Most industry
buildings will not disappear once they appear, and you can see some
buildings that have endured $2M of loss throughout their lifetime.
The buildings now act with the economy, unlike RRT2.
Now, you have to remember the maxim, "Buy low, sell high!"  You al-
ready knew about it from RRT2 due to the stock market.  Now it applies
to EVERY building on the map!  If you see a factory that is productive
and profitable, then it will go for a higher cost than will an unprof-
itable factory.  You can buy an unprofitable factory for a discount,
sometimes a profoundly deep discount.
This game teaches in a very profound way another business maxim,
"Time equals money."  Buying an unprofitable factory is cheap, but
turning it into a profitable facility may take some time.  Buy infra-
structure to support the facility though -- tracks to hold trains which
can transport goods, and stations to capture goods -- and give it some
time.  A small investment could turn into a cash cow.
Conversely, if you find yourself needing industry profit to finish a
game, buy a profitable industry at a premium.  In this fashion, while
you get far less of a percentage of your investment as profit, you are
also spending far less time as well and obtaining a facility that
gives you instant profits.
Ultimately, the tradeoff between buying and supplying an unprofit-
able facility versus a profitable one is made up of two things.  Time,
as mentioned above, and the cost of infrastructure -- you WILL be lay-
ing track, building stations, and buying trains to supply your new fa-
cility, right?  It will take time for the new facility to start produc-
ing once you supply it with raw materials.  By spending money on infra-
structure instead of buying a more expensive (and profitable) facility,
you can use that same infrastructure to move other cargoes and obtain
more profits.
To summarize, you can buy industries or even build them from the
ground up.  Some will be already profitable, and those are usually the
most expensive to buy.  Some may not be producing anything, and they
are the cheapest to buy.  It will take time and possibly more invest-
ment in track, station, and trains to turn an unprofitable facility
into a profitable facility, but sometimes it uses your resources better
than purchasing an already-profitable facility.
3.4 - Town Consumption and the Transportation Model
Two RRT2 tycoon things have disappeared.  One is the one-car unit;
now, in Railroad Tycoon 3, you can ship between 50% and 100% of a car-
load of any material, including passengers and mail.  (Note: In RRT3,
you cannot choose to ship a half-carload, it is purely dependent on the
cargo levels at your station.)
And remember the Railroad Tycoon 2 flags?  Green for "sell all car-
goes", yellow for "keep cargoes on the train", and red for "keep car-
goes at station, don't sell"?  They don't apply here anymore, due in
part to the pricing scheme and also the fill percentages from above.
Every town will now have a price for everything, and the amount that is
consumed will also depend on the price.
For instance, you may have three towns.  The one on the west sup-
plies cattle.  The one in the middle is a small consuming town.  The
town to the east has a meat packaging plant.  They may look like this:
Westerham  ----------- Centreville ------------ East Eastie
Cattle Ranch                                 Meat Packaging Plant
If you have a train route between Westerham to Centreville, you may
have one or more loads of cattle.  This is because of the flow of
goods, the Tycoonatrons.  The closer you get to a demanding facility,
the meat packaging plant, the higher the price will be for the cattle.
By taking the cattle at least part of the way, you will get at least
part of the money realized from shipping the cargo, and the Tycoon-
atrons may take some (or even all) of the cattle you supplied Centre-
ville to East Eastie because of the profit they could realize from the
shipment.
And here's the fun part.  Say you did take two loads of cattle from
Westerham to Centreville, and you also have a train coming to Centre-
ville and going to East Eastie in two months.  While the Tycoonatrons
may have taken some of the cattle, there may be some cattle left that
the Tycoonatrons couldn't ship at a profit to them still in Centreville
that you may be able to ship for a profit.  So your East Eastie train
might pick up, say,  1.7 loads of cattle from Centreville to sell in
East Eastie.  In this case you may miss out on some of the profit, but
in effect the game automatically caused you to flag the cargo red so
that another train could pick it up, and you were penalized accordingly
(though slightly) for making the cargo sit.
A visual retelling of the above may look like this:
Westerham ------------- Centreville ------------- East Eastie
Cattle Ranch                                    Meat Packaging Plant
(Cost for Cattle: $45k)   (Cattle: $67k)           (Cattle: $90k)
2.0 loads from Westerham to East Eastie - base price $90k
Total profit: $90k
2.0 loads from Westerham to Centreville - base price $44k
1.7 loads from Centreville to East Eastie - base price $39k
Total profit: $83k
As you may notice, the Tycoonatrons will skim some of the profit from
the top for undertaking some shipment of cargo themselves.
(Special note - the price may change slightly too, but this is pure-
ly a simplification)
This is why the automatic choosing of cargo is the best way to run
your trains.  You may not know from one shipment to the next what car-
go would be best to place on a train, especially if you consider the
next scenario:
Westerham------Centreville---------East Eastie      Notrackville
Grain Farm                                Brewery
In this example, there is a grain farm near Centreville which pro-
vides grain to your station to ship, and a brewery (which processes
grain into alcohol, a finished good in this game) in Notrackville.  As
Notrackville indicates, your track doesn't run all the way there; it
stops at East Eastie. Example costs of goods:
Westerham------Centreville---------East Eastie      Notrackville
Grain: $15        Grain: $13         Grain: $34       (Grain: $58)
Alcohol: $190    Alcohol: $185       Alcohol: $176    (Alcohol: $133)
By providing East Eastie with the grain, you still will get a pre-
mium - $21 per 1.0 load.  But because grain is far more demanded in
Notrackville, where they can supply their brewery with it, the Tycoon-
atrons will endeavor to ship some of the grain from East Eastie to No-
trackville.  And that amount of grain will be fed into the brewery,
where alcohol will be brewed.  Alcohol then is far cheaper in Notrack-
ville, but the Tycoonatron's premium for moving alcohol from Notrack-
ville to East Eastie will be built right into difference between the
East Eastie price and Notrackville's price - $43 per 1.0 load.
East Eastie will still have alcohol for loading, though not as much
as if you connected Notrackville to begin with.  By shipping East East-
ie alcohol to Centerville, you'll still realize a profit between the
two prices - $9 per 1.0 load.  But as you notice, the profit is a
slight profit compared to connecting Notrackville.
And this is where you, the Railroad Baron, have to make your deci-
sion.  Would connecting Notrackville be worth the money invested in
more track, another station, and more trains?  Or would it be suffi-
cient to let the Tycoonatrons supply your station down the line, so
that you can then supply the stations in your current railroad network?
Now this discussion leads us to consumption.  There are a multitude
of ways that any amount of anything (goods, food, raw materials, etc.)
dwindles:
1. People taking raw materials and producing their own goods (like a
cottage-industry woodworker taking 5% of a 1.0 load of logs to plane or
sand for his own use).
2. Waste.
3. Theft.
4. Use (Consumption).
5. Purchase and transport.
1-3 above are minor, but will happen.  They are provided so that you
are aware that if numbers drop, it may be due to other reasons rather
than your trains or the Tycoonatrons' shipping capabilities.
We covered #4 already above with the Tycoonatrons.  In Railroad Ty-
coon 3, towns will now use the production that factories will provide.
In RRT2, if you have a meat packing plant in a city, taking cattle to
the facility created food.  But this food had to GO somewhere else, it
was not demanded at all in the town where it was produced.  In this
game, towns WILL consume goods, and it is not a bad thing.  Take the
following scenario:
Centreville                     Notrackville
Grain Farm                       Brewery
Grain: $13                   (Grain: $58)
Alcohol: $185                (Alcohol: $133)
Let's introduce a new portion now:
Brewery (Capacity 3 units/year)
Supply (the grain!): $58/unit
Labor/Overhead: $30k/year
One of the two numbers fluctuates a lot - labor.  Labor are the Ty-
oonatrons running the brewery, working inside.  If the brewery doesn't
run, then fewer Tycoonatrons are needed, and the cost will go down (but
not disappear; you can't have a completely empty facility and call it
"open".)
One of the numbers doesn't fluctuate as much - overhead.  Overhead
refers to the electricity used to make the factory run, the taxes on
the land and assets, and to some extent the wages of the management of
the factory.  Overhead will also always exist, and there's only so
much you can dispense with.
But with the numbers above, we can understand the following:
Brewery - Consumption 2.0 Units
Supply - $116k
Labor/Overhead: $30k
Which means that you can tell completely what the costs of this brew-
ery are:
2.0 units of grain @$58/unit=$116k + Labor/Overhead $30k=$146k
But alcohol sells for $133/unit in Notrackville, so therefore if
they sell all the alcohol there the revenue (all money made) becomes:
2.0 units @$133 = $266
With expenses, the brewery will show a $266k-$146k = $120k profit.
But imagine the Tycoonatrons.  One or another enterprising Tycoon-
atron may take a .25 load of alcohol from Notrackville where it sells
for $133 to Centreville, where he can realize a profit of $13k.  If
this is all he can haul, then it makes sense that his maximum profit is
$13.  If he can haul .5 loads though, why not haul more if it won't
cost that much more and get $26k profit instead?
However, Notrackville's price for alcohol is still worth the brewery
in Notrackville to sell alcohol to the general public, given limited
options.  If you connect Notrackville to your rail network though,
your trains are in essence "buying" Notrackville's alcohol for them-
selves at the same $133 price that the public may pay, and you are re-
alizing the profit when you then "sell" the alcohol to Centreville at
$185.  But while your trains are not in station "buying" the alcohol,
and if there is a surplus, remember that any Tycoonatron who's thirsty
can pony up his own $133 and the brewery will sell him alcohol too.
Now we get into basic supply and demand, in the next section below!
Just remember, consumption is JUST like production in this game in
one key way: it doesn't all happen immediately!  We used the numbers
above to provide an "average" price.  Prices can go up and down and af-
fect the purchase price of any commodity - just look at your local pe-
trol station for an illustration!
Another note to remember in this game is to follow the train cars!
When you click on the station that your facility is served by, the list
of cargoes will appear.  In this list, you can find out both if your
facility is being supplied and also if your facility is able to sell
finished goods.  You can tell this both the same way.  If for instance
you own a brewery, this means that you need grain as an input.  The
houses serviced by your station will ALSO demand grain too.  Therefore,
click on the station and click the grain car to see what is happening!
Your brewery, as long as you zoom out far enough, should have a down-
ward pointing triangle.  If there is grain to be input to the brewery,
then little black railcars of grain will appear UNDER the triangle's
point.  If so, you have a supply, and your factory should be outputting
alcohol at this very second.
Then, you can find out if your alcohol is being bought or not by
clicking on the alcohol car in the station list.  If there are black
cars around the town but not in the station, then your alcohol is also
being bought.  Congratulations, you are likely turning a profit!  If
the black cars are sitting at the station though, you'd better get a
train to transport them somewhere else.  All that needs to happen is
for them to be loaded on a train for them to be bought.  So therefore,
if you have an alcohol factory yet prices are pretty stagnant for alco-
hol, find the nearest location that you can ship it even for a few pen-
nies extra and ship it there, as you will earn the profit through the
revenue your brewery just made in selling the alcohol to your train to
ship.
This is how I understand the revenue model for supply and production
buildings in RRT3.  I was perplexed recently, as I bought a steel mill
which did extremely brisk business yet the steel seemed to be piling up
in the town; there were upwards of 10 units of steel, yet my factory
put up amazing $1.1M profits.  I then realized that the two tool and
die factories were not only upgraded, but operating at maximum capacity
and likely purchasing the steel as soon as it gets turned out.  As I
honestly don't know any other way that you can possibly book revenue
on a product that seems to not be getting sold, and if anyone else has
any ideas in regards to this topic I would be happy to hear them.
So this is what is happening behind the scenes constantly.  You have
Tycoonatrons trying to get ahead in life, much like you may be (unless
of course, you're at university.)  If you still are at university, go
ask your economics professor about some of this stuff, and (s)he'll be
glad to help.  Alternately, send an email to the address at the top of
the FAQ for any questions.
3.5 - Supply and Demand - Flow of Resources
This will be a quick discourse on the basics of supply and demand,
hopefully little more than a refresher course.  It will focus on how
the game deals with supply and demand going forward though.
Let's go back to Westerham and East Eastie, and give a date of 1889:
Westerham --------- Centreville ----------- East Eastie
Cattle Ranch                                  Meat Packaging Plant
(Livestock: $45k)    (Livestock: $67k)        (Livestock: $90k)
(Meat: $255k)        (Meat: $235k)            (Meat: $195k)
Cattle Supply: 5.6   Cattle Supply: 1.2       Cattle Supply: 0.2
Meat Supply: 0.0     Meat Supply: 0.3          Meat Supply: 0.7
As you see, Westerham's cattle sell for $45k per 1.0 load.  East
Eastie has a meat packaging plant which needs raw materials, the live-
stock, in order to process into meat.  That's the new price you see on
the list above.  At this point, there's a reason that meat costs a lot
in Westerham; they have very little, so people are willing to pay more
for the small amounts of meat that local butchers may be able to pro-
duce.  Cattle in East Eastie are the same way, since it costs such a
large amount for the Tycoonatrons to be able to move what little live-
stock they can the long distance all the way from Westerham to East
Eastie - some may die, some may get lost, et cetera.  Still note
though that *some* shipping may be happening due to the Tycoonatrons.
So, your train comes to the rescue!  At first, you can just do a
short trip from Westerham to Centreville, and that will get the cattle
moving toward the direction of East Eastie.  But you may also notice
that profits for the cattle you pick up in Westerham are far better in
East Eastie, and they also will hopefully have meat for you to sell
after their meat packaging plant starts producing.
As a rule of thumb, your best profit will come from the first few
shipments you undertake.  Because since you're fulfilling a need, then
costs will stabilize across the board:
Check out what may happen by 1894:
Westerham --------- Centreville ---------- East Eastie
Cattle Ranch                               Meat Packaging Plant
(Cattle: $72k)       (Cattle: $78k)          (Cattle: $82k)
(Meat: $230k)        (Meat: $218k)           (Meat: $205k)
Cattle Supply: 1.6   Cattle Supply: 0.7     Cattle Supply: 4.2
Meat Supply: 1.3     Meat Supply: 1.0       Meat Supply: 2.4
Your trains did this!
When you filled the need for cattle to be sent from Westerham to
East Eastie, you caused prices to rise slightly in Westerham - the
local butcher who can still make a profit by slaughtering his own meat
won't be able to find as many cattle as he used to.  At the same time
the ranchers will realize that there are fewer and fewer cattle, so
therefore they will raise prices in order to capture more money from
their service.  Cattle won't be in as great of supply as before, so
the ranchers can be more choosy in the prices they charge!
East Eastie still needs cattle, but check out the livestock supply
exampled above.  If the meat packaging plant can only process (about)
3.0 loads of livestock yearly, then they're supplied for more than a
year.  Where might those 4.2 train cars of cattle be?  The meat packing
plant can't just let them go free and then go find them when they're
needed... they need to store the cattle and feed the cattle before they
are processed.  These costs now show up in the lowered price of this
cattle.
And meat!  Now that Westerham is being supplied with meat, the rich
aren't the only ones who can afford it.  If only one Tycoonatron bought
meat at the local butcher for $254 before East Eastie's steaks hit the
market, the butcher only got the $254.  But when East Eastie's steaks
hit the market, why would the marketplace only sell one steak at $254
if they can sell twenty steaks at $230?  Remember, if a good isn't
sold, it isn't worth anything; it's currency that runs everything.
As for the one Tycoonatron who bought steak at $254?  Well, if all the
steak is the same, why buy steak at $254 if it's the same as the $230
stuff?  This allows the one Tycoonatron to keep $24 in his pocket to
spend on something else, which then allows economies to grow.
Now would be a good time to inform you that everything in Railroad
Tycoon 3 is treated as a commodity.  This term means that the quality
of an item is not considered in its pricing.  Therefore, a McDonald's
hamburger is the exact same meat as the steak you may buy from an Out-
back Steakhouse.  Obviously, in the real world this isn't the case, but
the same 2.0 load of meat from East Eastie is worth exactly the same as
the meat butchered by the Tycoonatron in Westerham.
So, on a microeconomic scale, your trains serve to balance prices.
Prices will never be truly equal, as your trains do not transport goods
instantaneously nor are they always at the station.  East Eastie's
large supply of meat isn't all getting taken out of town unless you
have a fleet of trains just waiting for it (which would probably cost
too much to support), so East Eastie's prices will still be lower.  As
more and more meat is taken from East Eastie, the price will rise slow-
ly.  Please note that this will make the meat packaging plant (as well
as the cattle farm) more and more profit as they go along, which make
them attractive investments provided the costs were low enough.
As a wrapup, supply prices are low and demand prices are high.  Your
company will make profit by buying at supply prices and selling at de-
mand prices.  Obviously, the farther apart these prices are, the more
profit you will make.  But remember that once you start supplying de-
mand that prices will start to equalize over time, making you less and
less profit each time you supply the same demand constantly.
This section will connect with the opportunity costs discussion in
section 3.7 as well as the macroeconomic section at 3.8.
3.6 - Instant manufacturing
Railroad Tycoon 2 worked on the instant manufacturing theory, which
stated that if you bring two cattle cars to a meat packaging plant,
they instantly turn into two food cars.  Obviously, not only did you
earn money with the two cattle cars, you also will earn money by haul-
ing the food cars.  In Railroad Tycoon 3, this aspect is completely
neutralized.  Now, each facility not only has a limit to how much they
can process, they also will not process these items immediately.  I do
not have a complete guide to the times that it takes for materials to
be processed, but if anyone has figured this information I would be
glad to add it to this guide.
Ultimately, for the facility to produce, it needs to be profitable
to produce.  99 times out of 100, it is profitable for a facility to
turn raw materials into finished goods, but if you find a facility
that just does not work correctly this may be the cause.
The main point here is that you can't expect to sit your train for
the cargo to be processed.  You have to provide ample supply to an in-
dustry in order to have any expectation that the finished goods will
be available.  As long as there is a year or two of constant supply,
the industry in question will probably have finished goods waiting for
transport.
This isn't to say that "instant" production doesn't exist anymore.
One of the most important parts of the game still happens instantly,
which is building.  Track, station, and even bought production facili-
ties are all erected immediately, with no lag in time.  If you had to
wait eight years for engineers to build a bridge over a long river ra-
ther than to hear the "clink-a-clink" of them constructing it immed-
iately, it'd certainly change the game.
3.7 The Tycoonatrons and the Discussion of Competitive Advantage
So you may be thinking, "The Tycoonatrons can ship anything.  Why
should I bother even building a train?"
The programmers thought of this too.  It'd be an extremely boring
game if the Tycoonatrons did everything, wouldn't it?
Remember the above examples?  The Tycoonatrons could ship materials
over short distances themselves.  But the Tycoonatrons have two major
problems.  One is speed.  The other is capacity.  These issues become
things that the railroad can do well; in economic terms, they are
"strategic advantages".
The Tycoonatrons are slow for the most part.  Rivers and other bodies
of water will speed them up and increase their capacity, but check out
your trains.  In the 1800s, you routinely see speeds around 60MPH and
faster.  In the 1900s, you have trains that can go 150MPH and faster.
Think back to history... could horses match train speeds in the 1800s?
Could cars match train speeds in the 1900s and 2000s, considering the
fact that trains have the right-of-way?  Consider even the fact that
trains can usually climb hills better than horses (even if they are
slow) and can also move faster than boats on the water.
Building a rail, two stations, and placing a train on it is the fast
-est way to get from station A to station B in this game.  Your trains
will effectively reduce spoilage to miniscule.  The poor Tycoonatrons
can't compete with your speed though, and you only have to click on the
globe to notice that while the little train cars of supply radiate some
way, many times they don't radiate very far.  You can only walk a case
of beer so far before you start drinking it.
Capacity is your other strategic advantage.  You may notice that it's
hard for a person to carry more than four cases of beer.  Put it on a
train though, and it's easy as pie.  If you already made the investment
of a train and track, putting five cases of beer on the same train
changes the cost minutely.  As a matter of fact, it costs pretty much
the same to haul 400 cases of beer compared to 4 cases.  Selling 400
cases of beer at $20 apiece is far more valuable than selling 4 cases
of beer at $40 apiece.
This is how the economy runs here.  Tycoonatrons can only take so
much because their capacities are extremely limited.  But they will
try to maximize their small capacities just like you will try to maxi-
mize your large capacity.  Your goal in this game is to figure out how
to make your trains profitable, and the way to do that is to make sure
that they are hauling cargoes that can be sold for a high premium at
another station down the line.
Remember the overhead discussion above?  In most cases, overhead is
the purchasing of capacity.  Buying a medium station in Railroad Tycoon
3 costs $100k, but it is a one-time cost.  If you deliver only 5.0
units of mail at $20/unit, you'll break even.  But if you deliver 20.0
units of mail at $10/unit, you will make a profit (20 * $10k = $200k,
Station = $100k, total profit of $200k-100k = $100k).  And the best
part is that as far as the station goes, there is no change in cost be-
tween offloading 5.0 units and 20.0 units; the station doesn't change
cost.
The things that are variable in this game are your trains.  The more
trains that you run, the more cost that will be incurred (purchase
price, fuel, and maintenance as well as lost opportunity for other
trains that have to stop for congestion).  So by all means, maximize
the profit of each of your trains.
Capacity does also apply to factories as well.  A factory that has a
large supply of raw materials may be best served in increasing capa-
city.  More capacity is again an increase in overhead, as more property
is bought, a larger facility implies more building materials, and all
other costs.  It will also be an increase in labor, as more people are
needed to be hired in order to convert more raw materials. Addition-
ally, if you increase supply of your finished good, you may see your
purchase prices drop as increased supply of the good will result in de-
creased demand.  But if the demand is high enough and the facility is
profitable enough, by all means increase the capacity!  As in the above
examples, 3.0 loads of alcohol at $133k will be worth $399k, but 5.0
loads of alcohol at $120k are worth $600k.  The biggest issue is to
make sure that the costs incurred to go from a profit of $399k to $600k
are smaller than the increased profit.
So you do have competitive advantage over almost everything else in
the game as far as speed and capactiy are concerned.  What do you do
with that competitive advantage?
In true Bill Cosby fashion, I tell you that story to tell you this
one:
3.8 - Opportunity Cost
The above example can be a demonstration of a principle called
"opportunity cost".  Opportunity cost is everywhere too!  Do you want
to use an extra $5 of gas to go see a friend... or did you want to use
that $5 to get a bite to eat?  You make decisions every day on how best
to use your money, and these decisions may change on a daily basis.
On Monday, you may have decided to use the $5 on food, but on Tuesday
you could be regretting that decision because you really need to talk
to your friend now.  And then, if you have yet another $5 you can
spend, you may face the same decision and then choose differently.
In this game, you invest money in order to make money.  Imagine you
connected Westerham with Centerville, like this:
Westerham ------------- Centreville                  East Eastie
It could take $350k to build track between two cities, $200k for two
stations, and another $150k for a train for a total of $700k!  And the
first load you transport on this track could be worth only $150k.
What kind of profit is that?
Costs: $700k
Revenue: $150k
Profit (Revenue minus costs): $550k of COSTS.
That's not making money, right?  But in this game, track you lay
tends to stay there permanently, and the trains you place can make ma-
ny shipments.  (Maintenance costs exist for both, but for the sake of
this conversation they are minimal)  So after a while, you could make
a total of ten trips between the two towns and end up making a profit
of $1.2M over three years, then we can reevaluate your decision to
build:
Costs: $700k
Revenue: $1.2M
Profit (Revenue minus costs): $500k after 3 years.
Good, right?  Well, guess what.... you can place that $700k of in-
frastructure anywhere you want, provided you have the permission.  The
majority of places you could place that $700k of track would give you
very little revenue, which made them bad choices, but they were choices
nonetheless.
Imagine this scenario:
Westerham                 Centreville ------BRIDGE----- East Eastie
Say that it took $950k total to connect Centreville to East Eastie,
due to a bridge that had to be built unlike the Westerham-Centreville
route.  But in three years, you earned $1.6M.  So the profit you re-
ceived from this transaction may look like this:
Costs: $950k
Revenue: $1.6M
Profit (Revenue minus costs): $650k after 3 years.
So, you would make more profit quicker if you built the connection
between Centreville and East Eastie first.  Keep in mind though that
in our example, it did cost more as well.  So, we'll do another scen-
ario, where you do have the $700k to do the Westerham-Centreville con-
nection, but you couldn't raise the $950k needed to create the Centre-
ville-East Eastie connection the first year because of bad credit.  If
you first waited a year for your credit rating to rise to offer a bond,
you might be able to then make the connection!  You issue a bond one
year later and gain $500k, which is more than enough to make your con-
nection to begin with. The bond carries a 10% interest rate.  And be-
cause costs have risen, it now takes $1.0M to build the same connec-
tion.  So the analysis may look like this:
Costs: $1.0M + $50k + $50k (two interest payments) = $1.1M
Revenue: $1.6M * 2/3 of the time = $1.1M
Profit (Revenue minus costs): $0 after 3 years.
You didn't make a profit!  But... you could have made more profit
based on connecting Westerham and Centreville earlier!  Whoops... that
is lost opportunity.
Everyone in the world makes opportunity cost evaluations constantly,
so it's not a new principle.  In the world of economics in Railroad Ty-
coon 3, you may notice that opportunity costs exist everywhere - just
look at all the towns you can connect!
And here's one last concept for this section.  The above illustration
is a good way to show the time value of money.  Remember waiting one
year to build the Centreville to East Eastie connection?  It costed a
bit more to build one year later, and cut one year of revenue stream
from the final total.  All of the scenarios have a time frame added to
it, so make sure that if you are waiting to build a connection it is
because raising the money is either impossible or too expensive, or
that there are no profitable connections to make at the present time.
Making these decisions is definitely not as cut-and-dried as I showed
above; oftentimes, you don't know how well one of your decisions panned
out until possibly two years of game-time has elapsed, and sometimes
even longer.  But be sure that you're always thinking about the oppor-
tunity costs of any decision you make in Railroad Tycoon 3, including
possible missed opportunity elsewhere.
3.9 - Macroeconomics and conditions:
The paper came!  There's a depression!  Everyone's panicking!
In the real world, depressions and economic booms are overall condi-
tions.  These conditions are based on growth for the most part - if a
economy is shrinking, then it will be in a depression.  An economy
shrinks when the amount of resources entering it grows smaller, in es-
sence.  And cash can certainly be one of those resources.  Conversely,
if an economy is expanding, it is because the available resources are